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The "correct" spelling of surnames, especially surnames of immigrants, often eluded nineteenth century Americans. The Soundex code was created to group names which sound alike into a single code. The code consists of four characters, the first letter of the surname plus three numbers, coded as follows:
| Code |
Letters |
| 1 |
B, P, F, V |
| 2 |
C, S, K, G, J, Q, X, Z |
| 3 |
D, T |
| 4 |
L |
| 5 |
M, N |
| 6 |
R |
Disregard the letters A, E, I, O, U, W, Y, and H.
Double letters should be treated as a single sound.
If a surname does not have three sounding letters, a 0 is used to complete the three-digit code.
Examples:
| Name |
Letters Coded |
Soundex Code |
| Allricht |
l,r,c |
A462 |
| Eberhard |
b,r,r |
E166 |
| Lee |
none |
L000 |
| McDonnell |
c,d,n |
M235 |
| McGee |
c |
M200 |
| O'Brien |
b,r,n |
O165 |
| Schmidt |
c,m,d |
S253 |
| Van Lind |
n,d |
L530 |
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